Sphenacodon
Sphenacodon was a pelycosaur that was about 3 metres (9.8 ft) in length. Sphenacodon belongs to the family Sphenacodontidae, a lineage that was related to the therapsids. It lived in the Early Permian in present day Texas and New Mexico. Sphenacodon's vertebral spines were long, and probably acted as attachment points for massive back muscles, allowing the animal to lunge powerfully at its prey. It was closely related to Dimetrodon, but lacked the large "sail" of that animal. It had heavy jaws with powerful teeth, including long canines and cutting cheek teeth, which indicate that it was probably carnivorous. Description The skull of Sphenacodon is very similar to that of Dimetrodon.6 It is narrow from side to side and vertically deep, with an indented notch at the front of the maxillary bone in the upper jaw. The upper and lower jaws are equipped with an array of powerful teeth, divided into sharp pointed "incisors" precaniniforms, large stabbing "canines" caniniforms, and smaller slicing back teeth postcaniniforms. The orbit is set high and far back with a single opening (temporal fenestra) behind and partly below the eye, a characteristic of synapsids. Body proportions are also similar to Dimetrodon, with a very large head, short neck, robust trunk, relatively short front and hind limbs, and a tapering tail that makes up about half the animal's entire length. However, the tops of the neural spines along the back bone are strikingly different in each genus. In Dimetrodon, the neural spines develop into long, narrow, cylindrical projections that support a tall vertical dorsal sail that ends near the base of the tail. In Sphenacodon, the neural spines are enlarged but retain a flat-tipped, blade-like shape along the back and tail, and form a crest rather than a tall sail. (The sphenacodontid genus Ctenospondylus also has blade-like neural spines, but its dorsal crest is taller than in Sphenacodon, although not as tall as the sail in Dimetrodon.) There is evidence for strong epaxial muscles along the base of the raised neural spines in both Sphenacodon and Dimetrodon, likely helping to stiffen and strengthen the backbone for walking and for lunging at prey by restricting side-to-side flexing motion. A recent study 7 of the structure of the neural spines on Sphenacodon confirms that the upper parts were not encased in a thick muscular hump and instead protruded above a layer of muscle to form a low dorsal crest. Finds of sphenacodontid specimens in which postmortem distortion of the body caused the dorsal spines to overlap suggests that the spines were not connected by hard or particularly tough tissue. The possible function of a low, skin-covered crest in Sphenacodon is debated. A thermoregulatory role seems unlikely, although the taller crest in Sphenacodon ferocior is allometrically larger than in S. ferox. Recent research has favored a display role for the tall sails in Dimetrodon and Edaphosaurus. Both Sphenacodon and Dimetrodon have been depicted with their short limbs splayed outward at 90 degrees from the body in a wide pushup position and with the tail (and even belly) dragging on the ground, similar to modern lizards and crocodiles. A sprawling stance is also typical for Sphenacodon and Dimetrodon skeletons as currently mounted in museums. However, trackways called Dimetropus (“''Dimetrodon'' foot”) that match the foot configuration of large sphenacodontids show animals walking with their limbs brought under the body for a narrow, semi-erect gait without tail or belly drag marks. Such clear evidence for a more efficient upright posture suggests that important details about the anatomy and locomotion of Sphenacodon and Dimetrodon may not be fully understood. 9 Some well preserved narrow Dimetropus tracks found in parts of the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument in New Mexico match the smaller size of Sphenacodon, a genus known from skeletal fossils in the state, but could also come from a small Dimetrodon. Discovery and classification The American paleontologist O.C. Marsh 10 named Sphenacodon (from Greek sphen "wedge" + ake "point" + odous (-odon) "tooth") in 1878, based on part of a lower jaw (dentary) bone found in the redbeds of northern New Mexico by fossil collector David Baldwin. In his very short description of the jaw, Marsh cited the back teeth as characteristic ("crowns are much compressed, and have very sharp cutting edges without crenulations") and assessed the animal as "about six feet in length, and carnivorous in habit," although the rest of the skeleton was not known. He did not provide an illustration of the specimen. Marsh gave the genus the Latin species name ferox "fierce" and erected the new family Sphenacodontidae, placed under the primitive reptilian order “Rhynchocephala” Rhynchocephalia, then including nearly all groups of early reptiles in addition to the living tuatara. Other paleontologists overlooked Marsh’s brief mention of Sphenacodon for almost three decades.11 In the meantime, the sail-backed Dimetrodon, named in 1878 by rival paleontologist Edward Drinker Cope, became a scientifically important genus,known from numerous fossils. Recognition of Sphenacodon as a low-spined carnivorous “pelycosaur” distinct from Dimetrodon came in the early 20th century with the discovery of more fossils in New Mexico.6 The proposed taxa Elcabrosaurus baldwini Case, 1907 and Scoliomus Williston and Case, 1913 now are considered junior synonyms of Sphenacodon ferox. In 1937, Alfred Sherwood Romer 12 described a second species from New Mexico named Sphenacodon ferocior ("fiercer") that was larger and more robust, with proportionately longer neural spines. Romer and Price (1940)6 provided detailed descriptions of both ferox and ferocior with skeletal reconstructions. A third species, Sphenacodon britannicus, has sometimes been cited in the literature. In 1908 German paleontologist F. von Huene13 described Oxyodon britannicus, based on part of a maxilla found in England, (The generic name Oxyodon is preoccupied by a fish (Oxyodon Baur, 1906) and so is not valid.) The specimen had been identified earlier as a possible Triassic dinosaur, but von Huene recognized a “pelycosaur.” Paton 14 transferred the species to Sphenacodon in 1974, noting it would have been an animal about the size of Sphenacodon ferox. However, more recent studies15 have questioned whether such limited fossil material can be used to distinguish between Dimetrodon and Sphenacodon--or its own genus. The species “Oxyodon” britannicus (or as Sphenacodon (?) britannicus) is now generally classified as Sphenacodontidae incertae sedis (of uncertain placement). See also * List of synapsids * Edaphosaurus * Haptodus References Category:Sphenacodonts Category:Permian synapsids Category:Prehistoric synapsids of North America